Delusion
by PhenomeniallSarah
Summary: It's been three years since the Titanic sank, and Rose is still having trouble moving on. She meets Charles, a wealthy, good-looking, all around nice guy. But is he enough to get her to let go of Jack? One-shot!


**This is me stepping out of my comfort zone! I've never done something like this before, so I hope you enjoy. (:**

It had been three years since the tragic end to the Titanic, but Rose Dewitt Bukater could still remember the ice cold, watery grave that had enveloped her that day. It had been the center of many of her nightmares after she had safely been transferred to a new boat. And still, years later, she would find herself waking up in cold sweats from the haunting of that fateful night. Everyone tried to sympathize with her afterward. For weeks after, she would get people who knew of her story to come up to her and say how sorry they were, or how things would get better. But even though she was thankful for the sympathy, nothing ever hit home. She knew that no matter how much people tried, no one but those who were there that night would ever understand. But to her that was okay. Being around people who knew no such pain helped Rose get back on her feet, and almost fully forget the dread that had been felt by hundreds.

There was just one small problem in forgetting. With trying to forget those nights that she spent on the Titanic came just as equally trying to forget who she spent most of those nights with. Jack Dawson had become her world in such a small amount of time, but he brought back too much grief and hurt. Some nights, Rose would stay up late and go over all the memories she still had of her and Jack. She even once tried to convince herself that Jack was in the next room, about to come in after a long day of working, and that he would wrap his strong arms around her and make all of the bad feelings go away. But that never happened, and Rose was left to cry herself asleep, alone, once again. Many of her friends saw what Rose was doing to herself and begged her to get some sort of help, but a Woman who came off as emotionally damaged wasn't good for a reputation, especially the one that Rose had to live up to.

After coming back from sea, Rose was given the rest of the money that was saved after her Father's death plus money that had been secretly set aside by Rose's Father and kept away from Ruth, her mother. Basically, Rose never had to worry about life from then on, and in the state she was in she wasn't really able to anyway. Instead of working, she sat in her room and wrote short stories about Jack. These stories mostly consisted of detailed descriptions of him while some told about how much love she felt for him before he died and the agony she felt afterward. It was easy to say that Rose had gone off the deep end concerning her love life. As said before, her friends became worried, and instead of watching their good friend crumble before their eyes, they decided to do something about Rose.

Behind Rose's back, her friends looked for guys that could possibly re-tickle The Red-head's fancy. It would definitely do her some good to go out and see the world that she had missed over the last three years of having Jack syndrome, and with this thought Rose's friends got to work. They searched all over town for men that they thought would best suit Rose, and the search went on for a few weeks before they found a handful of guys. Each was at least mildly wealthy, of course, and most came from the ancestry of famous business men. But all of them had one thing in common: they yearned for Rose. One man in particular had been watching Rose for some time now. He was one of the few that truly knew of her emotional disease from bits of gossip around town and later from the mouths of Rose's friends themselves.

This man was named Charles Taylor, and he was one of the most well respected men of their time. His father had owned a small business that later became one of the most known factories. It was used by many other small businesses near by, and large corporations all around. Once Charles became of age, he helped his father in running the business and took on many of the responsibilities. Needless to say, Charles had inherited all of the respect and business-like disposition from his father. Now at the age of twenty-seven, Charles was looking for a woman that he could call his own and settle down with, just as his father had done so long ago. And the woman he had in mind was none other than Rose Dewitt Bukater. Once he heard that the friends of Rose were looking for a man that could bring her back to life, Charles dove right in for challenge. Her friends had already asked a few other respected men, but Charles knew that none of them came close to himself. If anyone was going to make Rose theirs, it would be Charles Taylor.

When Rose's friends told her what they had been doing for the last couple of weeks, Rose was a bit mad at first. She didn't like the idea of them running around behind her back making it sound like she was desperate for a new man because she most definitely was not. After some time, though, Rose started to see it as the good thing it was. This way, she didn't have to look for guys herself, and people were lined up to date _her_ instead of the other way around. That weekend, she went out on her first date with the first guy that had been picked for her. Throughout the night, Rose felt as if something was missing, and after the young gentlemen took her home, she realized what it was. He wasn't Jack.

It went on like this for a few weeks afterward. Every time Rose would meet one of the other guys and go out with them, she would never feel how she felt when she was with Jack. She would shake her head at her hopeful friends and see the disappointment on their faces, but she promised not to give up. Finally it came to the day where she was to meet and have dinner with Charles. Rose had obviously already heard of him, and was pleasantly surprised that such a man would want to meet _her_. On that night, Rose took more pride in how she looked than she did with any of the other men. When they finally saw each other and were sitting in the restaurant that he had picked out for them, she had to admit that things were going more smoothly than any of the other dates. The conversation between the two seemed to flow better, and Rose actually found herself laughing a few times throughout the night. And afterward, when Rose was sitting in her room, she found herself writing a story about Charles instead of Jack.

Rose and Charles began to see each other more exclusively from then on. The other men that Rose was supposed to see had been dismissed, and Rose's friends actually saw some sort of life emerging from within her. Her nightmares about the sinking had all but left, and instead she dreamed of when she would be seeing Charles again. Things seemed to being going well for The Beauty.

It wasn't until nine months of dating Charles had passed before the Titanic was brought up again. The town was planning the four year anniversary of the sinking, and all survivors who lived within the area were asked to join the main event of mourning. Charles told Rose that she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to, but Rose felt as if she must. The day of the four year anniversary, Rose woke up extra early. She looked at the man sleeping in the bed beside her, and starred at him for a few moments. A small tinge of guilt hit her hard as she watched her partner sleep. She was taken back to Jack's face, full of love. Love for her. She remembered the happiness she felt with him, and the passion she had the night that he took her virginity away. The way she felt when she was with Jack was something that she knew she would never feel with Charles. Sure, she loved him, and sure, she could see herself marrying and having children with this man, but she could also see herself growing to hate him in their old age. It wasn't his fault, but sometimes two people in love are destined to fall out of love.

Rose knew that Charles loved her. He spent night after night with her, trying his hardest to make her happy. The only problem was his work. Once Charles' father died, it seemed like the factory needed Charles more and more. The time he spent working started to cut into the time he used to share with Rose, and the relationship was definitely feeling the strain. The two started to fight more often, and Rose even once thought that Charles might have been seeing another woman. It was a moment of stupidity, and she knew right after she had the thought that it was wrong. But, still. She knew that Charles would never give up his work for her, and this killed Rose. So, that morning of the anniversary, Rose got up feeling empty. She knew that she couldn't hide her feelings from Charles any longer, and decided that she would tell him everything after the ceremony was over.

Rose left the house without saying goodbye to Charles, not wanting to face him just yet. At the ceremony, she said a few words about her time on the Titanic, leaving anything Jack out of the speech and only saying that being on the ship brought her much happiness. Many tears were shed, a few by Rose herself. She saw people there who she hadn't seen in years, people who had shared the same loss that she dealt with day to day.

Charles showed up sometime towards the end of the ceremony. He promised that he would be there for Rose for most of the event, but was called in last minute to work due to a problem with one of the machines that only he could overlook. Rose waited for Charles the whole day, deciding that she would wait for a while longer before she made the brash decision to leave him. As she cried from the mourning of the day, Rose looked to her sides, half expecting her love to be there. But, he never came when she needed a shoulder to cry on. When he did show up, many of the spirits had been lifted from focusing on the better times that the Titanic brought many of the survivors rather than all of the bad things that happened that night. Needless to say, Charles showed up when he was no longer needed, and Rose wasn't too happy about that. She knew that he was sorry. Hell, he said that he was over and over when he first arrived at the ceremony. And as people started to leave, Rose turned to Charles with sad eyes. She wanted to forgive him, but she only saw this incident as a look into their future. What would happen when Rose became pregnant, a mother, and she _really_ needed her husband by her side? Though it may have been jumping to conclusion, Rose only saw it as saving herself from more hurt down the line.

Charles lead Rose to an empty cafe. It was eight pm, and most of the people were either just leaving the ceremony to go home or they were already home mourning the day. The one waitress took the couple's order of tea, chamomile to calm the nerves before going home to bed. Other than that, Rose and Charles were left to themselves as they sipped their tea in silence. There was no conversation between the two, which was unusual for Rose. She was very vocal and usually always had something on her mind that she wanted to talk about, never keeping secrets from Charles about her day or her feelings. The handsome man looked at the girl sitting across the small table with such adoration. His dreams at night always consisted of Rose and the future that he hoped the two would share someday. Little did he know that that future would soon be ripped apart by the last person to be considered a suspect in his eyes.

Rose knew that now wasn't the time to express her changed feelings. She decided to give Charles this one last happy memory of sipping tea together, fully in love. So, without a second thought, she smiled at the man across from her and tried her best to portray herself to be the girl that she knew he wanted her to be. After the couple had finished, Charles paid and tipped the quiet waitress. As they stood, a man came from behind the counter, the owner. He stopped Charles before the two left and struck up a conversation about a shipment that he'd be needing for later that week. Charles sighed and looked towards Rose for confirmation that it was okay to talk with the man about work when he was supposed to pay attention to her, and Rose simply nodded. With a small kiss and smile from the man she was supposed to love, Rose left the cafe without Charles as he again sat down to talk with the owner.

Rose walked through the deserted town towards her house. There was a very small breeze, but large enough the make the lone girl shiver and tighten the jacket around her. Even though she was cold, and even though the emptiness that she felt before meeting Charles was starting to come back, Rose felt a bit happy to be alone again. She still knew that no matter how many people tried to sympathize with her, she would always be alone in a sense. Oddly, being alone became one of her biggest comforts. So, on nights like these where she could think her own thoughts and feel her own feelings, she smiled genuine smiles.

A small car stopped on the side of the road as Rose walked by. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at the car to her right. No one stepped out, so the girl figured that everything was safe and that she was simply being paranoid. But as she started to walk away, the car window rolled down and a man's head peeked out. He called for Rose to come back, and she would have ignored it if it weren't for the familiarity of the man's voice, though she couldn't quite place the she had heard him before. Rose turned around to look at the man in the car. He smiled at her in a boyish way, immediately making Rose smile back. Something was definitely familiar...

The man opened his mouth to speak, but the door to the cafe opened and cut him off. Disappointment flashed through the mystery man's eyes, and the window was rolled back up before Charles was in front of Rose. As the car was driven away, Charles looked into Rose's eyes and asked if something was wrong. Rose said nothing, but smiled at Charles and nodded. Later that night, Rose once again wrote a story about Jack, hiding it from Charles as he got ready for bed.

That night, she couldn't go to sleep. Something in the way the man looked Rose made her feel whole again. It was as if the years of emptiness never happened, and she was the happy seventeen year old that she used to be. The only logical explanation for her change in disposition, to Rose, was that she felt a new found love for Charles. But, in the morning, when she was awake early again, she looked over at her love and realized just how wrong she was. Not only did she not feel the same for him that she did months before, but it had actually gotten worse. Rose didn't even want to be in the same bed as Charles, and the source seemed to be from the man the night before.

Rose broke it off with Charles over breakfast. She came out with it quick, like a band aid, but Charles wasn't too keen on the idea of separating with Rose, a girl he truly loved. He was mad at first, but after talking with Rose for hours, he understood. Rose hadn't actually come out and said it, but Charles knew that she was still in love with the Jack fellow from years ago, and that she would never get over him. He left with a sigh, and made sure to tell Rose that she was a sad case before he actually left the house he had shared with her to go to work. Even though Rose knew that his words were true, she couldn't help but feel lifted from the sudden break up.

The rest of the morning was spent thinking of the man. She called her friends to tell them about the news of her and Charles' split, and asked them if they knew of any knew men in town who could possibly be her mystery man. Without much luck, Rose ended the call a few minutes later. After a few minutes of thinking that it would be impossible to see that same man again, she came to the decision to recreate the night before. Maybe, if Rose was alone again, the man would once again come out of the shadows and they could have an actual conversation.

That evening, Rose bundled up and left without telling anyone where she was going. She walked to the Cafe and had a cup of tea as she waited for the sun to go down. After it did, she walked outside and waited for any sign of a car. Whenever a car _did_ drive by, her stomach filled with butterflies in hopes that it was _the_ car. But, they always drove right by her, and she became more and more flustered as the minutes went by. After fifteen minutes of standing in the cold, with numb toes and fingers, Rose realized how stupid she was being. How could she think that standing out in the dark and cold, waiting for a strange man that she didn't know to come by and talk was a good idea? Rose shook her head at herself and started to walk back home, but as she did, headlights came on right behind her. With a small inkling of hope, forgetting the thoughts that she had just moments before, Rose turned around to see a small car park on the side of the road. _The_ car.

"Are you alone?" The man sketchily asked after rolling down the window as he had done the night before.

"I suppose so," Rose replied timidly.

The man got out of the car slowly, and Rose became a bit afraid. Really, how could she think this was a good idea?

"I've been watching you, Rose." He said, the familiar voice really pulling at Rose's heart strings.

"And why have you been doing that?" Rose asked, suddenly out of breath.

"Well, I've missed you. I didn't want to scare you by jumping back into your life and ruining everything that you have with the one guy. What's his name anyway? Do you really thing he's that great for you, Rose?" He sighed, "Of course you think he's great for you. You've been with each other for some time now, I know. God, Rose. Why did everything have to change?"

Rose began to smile. She knew that rambling anywhere, but she stayed back, not wanting to get too excited too fast. "I...um...how?" She asked, flabbergasted that the person she was talking to could actually be the person from her dreams.

"What do you mean 'how'?

"I mean...how are you here? You died."

"No, no, Rose. I never died. After you left on the boat, I came up again. I couldn't let go. I wasn't done living. Another boat came by and found me. Once I was on land, I searched for ya for a few years and my search led me here, but you already seemed to be pretty busy with that new life of yours. I stayed out of sight for awhile, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to talk to ya,"

Rose felt a sudden pain on her wrist, and she looked down to see red marks on her skin. How odd, she thought, but it was quickly swept to the side when she realized that Jack, her Jack, was right in front of her again. She smiled at the man in front of her and walked closer. Jack kept his face hidden, but Rose didn't know why. She wanted to see his face, she wanted to make sure that he was real. But, he insisted on talking while he was out of view, and when the two migrated into the car to get out of the cold, Jack's face was still kept in the dark.

Rose once again felt more sharp pain on different parts of her body, as if someone was handling her very roughly, but all she could see was the love of her life right in front of her, and so she stopped worrying. All she wanted to do was feel him again. Rose reached her hand over to Jack and stroked his face. She frowned, not recognizing the face that she was feeling, "You've changed," She said, sadly.

He sighed, "I know Rose, but my love for you hasn't changed one bit. And that's all that matters, right?"

Rose smiled once again, "Of course." She laughed, and kissed the man who she loved dearly.

Rose woke up in the hospital the next morning. Bruises lined her skin and red marks were everywhere. As Rose awoke, she looked down at her damaged body in shock. The only thing that she remembered from the night before was seeing and falling in love with Jack once again.

Charles ran into the room, a flustered look on his face. "Rose!" He cried, and ran to her side, giving her a gentle hug.

"What...what happened?" Rose asked, slowly sitting up in pain.

"Someone found you in a car by the cafe. You were bruised badly and...naked. Rose, what happened?" Charles asked, concern in his voice and eyes.

In that moment, Rose remembered. She had been waiting in front of the cafe for the mystery man from the night before. The car drove up and a man inside asked if she was alone, but instead of getting out and having a conversation with Rose that made her believe that he was Jack, the man grabbed Rose on the wrist and dragged her into the car. Rose remembered being beaten, but as she was beaten, she was smiling. Of course she was, in her mind Rose was having a lovely conversation with Jack. In the end, the kisses that Rose remembered sharing with her Jack were actually shared with a crazy man.

Rose spent the rest of the morning crying. How could she had been so stupid? How could she let her sickness get so bad that she would think rape was a simple conversation with the man she used to love. After Rose gained control of herself, she hugged Charles and apologized. Charles hugged back , even though she had broken his heart just the day before and left him bitter with hatred. Truly, he loved her, and Rose realized this once again. It was then that Rose decided to let Jack go. He was gone forever, and she had to except that. The one person that was actually good for Rose was Charles.

After a few days in the hospital, Rose became good as new. Most of her bruises were healing if not healed, and Rose's mood had even seemed to lighten. She was as happy with Charles as she had ever been now that she decided to let Jack go. On the day of her release from the hospital, Rose did everything she could to hold herself back from skipping out of the building with her new-found love in hand.

Jack Dawson sat in his little black car by the hospital, watching Rose walk out of the building with a smile. Each swing of Rose and Charles' intertwined hands killed him a little more. Jack _had_ actually survived that night, and _was_ picked up by a second boat that came by after Rose was gone. Somehow, Rose had knew all along that Jack was alive, and the night before was her conscious' way of telling her. He finally found Rose a few nights before and was about to tell her who he was before he saw Charles walk out of the cafe, all eyes on Rose. In that moment, Jack new that Rose was taken. He was going to go back out in search for her the next night, but decided to stay in and give it a few days. Now, as he watched the love of his life truly happy with some other man, he knew that he had to try and let Rose go. And it started with him driving away from the hospital, unknowing that Rose had been hurt the night before waiting for him.

**Pleeeaaassseeee review! It would be much appreciated! **


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